It has generally been known that telephone answering machines may be used to exchange information without requiring simultaneous participation by the callers and receivers. In facilities having multiple telephone lines or private branch exchanges (PBX), voice mail systems are used to accomplish the exchange of information between users within a voice system (a subscriber) or callers from outside the system. Different from the answering machines, voice mail systems include intelligence to process and sort through the multiple call sources and receiver destinations. The intelligence in the voice mail systems, usually in the form of a computer and associated software controls, affords voice mail system users a multitude of options for manipulating the messages. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,575 to Chamberlin et al. describes a voice mail system which advises the mailbox user of the status of his mailbox, e.g., the number of messages received, and the option to retrieve only a portion of the recorded messages. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,700 to Matthews et al., the proposed system enables the user to deposit a message in the memory for automatic delivery to other mailboxes in the system and to automatically delete the message after the message has been delivered to the selected recipient. The voice mail intelligence also makes possible other features such as caller options to, review, edit, erase or label their messages prior to their delivery to the designated mailbox(es); receiver options to retrieve, reply or forward a stored message; and mailbox owner (subscriber) options to tailor their mailboxes to answer with different greetings at different times or deliver their messages to other mailboxes. Some systems may include different levels of mailboxes having different access requirements.
In the present business environment, voice mail systems are increasingly relied upon as the preferred means of communication, both internally among subscribers and externally with clients or potential customers. It becomes unavoidable that with the increased usage, there will be increases in messages left in mailboxes having confidential or proprietary information. Therefore, there is a need to provide subscribers with improved monitoring information regarding the activities of their mailboxes. Obviously, any implementation which results in a more efficient operation of the voice mail system will reduce the amount of time and resources allocated to the system, which translates to reduced costs.